(Ottawa) Canadian Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said an investigation was underway into what they called “threats” against Air India, after a video in line warned people not to travel on the airline on November 19.
Mr Rodriguez said in a social media post that the government took any threats to aviation “extremely seriously”.
He says Canada and its security partners are investigating “recent threats circulating online,” and his press secretary confirms that Mr. Rodriguez was referring to comments about Air India.
RCMP spokesperson Kristine Kelly said police are working with national and international partners and “industry stakeholders” in an investigation into the threat to Air India flights.
The original remarks regarding Air India were made by Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an American organizer of unofficial referendums on Sikh independence, including recent votes in Surrey, British Columbia.
Mr Pannun says in a video, broadcast in a mix of Punjabi and English, that he is asking Sikhs “not to fly Air India” on November 19, and that there will be a “global blockade” against the airline that day.
However, Pannun said in a statement that he is calling for a boycott of Air India and other companies that support the Indian government.
There is no threat. The RCMP has every right to investigate a terrorist threat. And if she considers calling for a boycott of Air India to be civil disobedience? […] is terrorism so be it, let it investigate.
Excerpt from a press release by Gurpatwant Singh Pannun
November 19 marks the final day of the Cricket World Cup in Ahmedabad, India, an event Mr. Pannun calls in the video the “World Cup of Terror.”
Mr. Pannun is a leading spokesperson for the Sikh independence movement in North America. He was among the leaders of a series of non-binding referendums held among diaspora communities calling for the creation of an independent state in India.
Another leader of the movement, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was shot and killed in June outside a Sikh gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia.
In September, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the House of Commons that there were “credible allegations” potentially linking the Indian government to Mr. Nijjar’s murder.
Two rounds of referendums were held this year in Surrey on Sikh independence, in the same Gurdwara where Mr Nijjar was killed, attracting thousands of voters from the community.